SANTA CRUZ — Former Federal Reserve head Janet Yellen will receive the 2019 UC Santa Cruz Foundation Medal, the university announced. The foundation will present the medal to Yellen in February.
Yellen is an economist and a professor emeritus of the University of California. She served as the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco from 2004 to 2010 and was a friend to the Santa Cruz Institute for International Economics, giving a keynote speech at a UCSC conference in 2006.
After then-President Barack Obama nominated her to chair the Fed in 2013, she became the first woman to hold the position. She served from 2014 to 2018. President Donald Trump did not nominate her for a second term.
Yellen made her mark in her time leading the U.S. central bank. In 2016, Forbes ranked her sixth on its list of the world’s most powerful people. At the end of her four-year term, 60 percent of economists the Wall Street Journal surveyed gave her an “A” grade on her performance as Fed chair.
Yellen wrote extensively about unemployment issues. During her tenure as Fed chair, national unemployment dropped more than under any other Fed chair in the post-World War II era, according to the Washington Post.
“We’ve been trying to choose people who are trailblazers,” said Marcus Frost, director of the UC Santa Cruz Foundation of Yellen’s selection. He cited Yellen’s connections to the economics department at UCSC as a factor in the award decision as well.
In the past few years, the foundation has awarded its medal to dignitaries of varied fields such as Sylvia Earle, an oceanographer who held the record for the deepest untethered scuba dive; Alice Waters, a chef and food activist; and Toni Morrison, a Nobel- and Pulitzer-winning novelist.
“The UC Santa Cruz Foundation Medal recognizes individuals of exceptionally distinguished achievement whose work and contribution to society exemplify the vision and ideals of UC Santa Cruz,” the foundation’s award announcement read.
The foundation will present the award to Yellen at a reception beginning 6:30 p.m. Feb. 2 in Menlo Park. The foundation is hosting the event in partnership with the Sidhartha Maitra Memorial Lecture. Attendees can purchase tickets for $100 and must register by Jan. 18.
TO ATTEND
What: UC Santa Cruz Foundation Medal honoring Janet Yellen.
When: 6:30-10 p.m. Feb. 2.
Where: Hotel Nia, 200 Independence Drive, Menlo Park.
Tickets: $100.
Information: specialevents.ucsc.edu/livinglegends/
